Voting began at 10 AM and will continue till 5 PM.
A total of 32 polling stations — one in Parliament House and one each in the state legislative assemblies —— have been set up, officials said.
The Election Commission has appointed 33 observers who are overseeing the conduct of the election. While two observers are present in Parliament House, one each is deployed in the respective state assemblies.
The results will be declared on July 20 in New Delhi.
The electorate, comprising elected Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members and members of state assemblies, is tilted in favour of the NDA, but the opposition is working to seek support of some regional parties in favour of its candidate.
The two contestants for the post of the country’s next president are NDA’s candidate Ram Nath Kovind and the opposition’s Meira Kumar.
Kovind, former Bihar governor, and Kumar, former Lok Sabha Speaker, have held a series of meetings across states to mobilise support for their candidature.
The tenure of incumbent Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th president of India, ends on July 24.
The electoral college, which elects the president through the system of proportional representation, comprises MPs and members of state legislative assemblies.
A total of 4,896 voters —— 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs —— are eligible to cast their ballot. MLCs of states with legislative council are not part of the electoral college.
While the Lok Sabha speaker, an elected member, can vote, the two nominated members in the Lower House from the Anglo— Indian community cannot. The 12 nominated members in the Rajya Sabha are also ineligible.
Since the election is through a secret ballot, the parties cannot issue a whip to their members to vote for a particular candidate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast his vote to elect the next president of India from the Parliament House
Ahead of Presidential election 2017, Election Commission of India(ECI) unveils new initiatives
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has come up with new initiatives ahead of the Presidential election today. This time unique serial numbered special pens of violet ink are being supplied centrally by the Election Commission so as to ensure that only instrument supplied by the poll watchdog is used for marking the ballot.
Before entering into the voting chamber, the polling staff will collect the personal pens, if anyone is possessing and will give the ECI special pen to MPs/MLAs for marking ballot. The special pen will be taken back once the member comes out of the voting chamber.
Voting by using any other pen may lead to invalidation of the vote at the time of counting under Rule 31 (1) (d) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules 1974.
In another first, special posters have been prepared for do’s and dont’s so as to ensure a peaceful poll session, use of only ECI pen, maintenance of secrecy and non-issuance of whip etc
-The polling time is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
– A total of 32 polling stations have been established — one in Parliament House room no. 62 and rest one each in the State legislative assemblies.
– The ballot paper will be in two colours – Green color Ballot for use by MPs and Pink color for use by MLAs.
– The ballot paper will have two columns – first column containing candidates’ names and second column for marking preferences by electors.
-The ballot paper will be in English and Hindi for use by MPs and in official languages of the state and in English for use by MLAs.
Note
In the 2012 elections, Pranab Mukherjee garnered 7,13,763 votes, while Pratibha Patil secured 6,38,116 votes before that in 2007. Both Mukherjee and Patil were Congress nominees.
Since the post was introduced in 1950, India has had 13 Presidents. President Pranab Mukherjee’s term in office expires on July 25, 2017. Just prior to this, on July 20, 2017, the name of India’s next President, will be announced. Here’s a look at India’s Presidents so far. Only one President, Rajendra Prasad, has been elected to the office twice.
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